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Nurarihyon no Mago – 10

admin — Tue, 07 Sep 2010 17:19:40 +0000

A few episodes back, I complained that Kana had no character. This episode proceeded to give her one. Fair enough. Seriously though, I really like it when a character I previously disliked or even hated redeems him or herself. And this episode had this for Kana. It’s a great sign of how a series is changing for the better. Out of all the episodes that centred around Rikuou’s classmates, this is the one I like best so far, even though the stakes of this episode are probably the lowest of the entire series with that random mirror youkai. But yeah, we got to see Kana as she was young, she stepped out of her role as simple damsel in distress and actually started critically asking Rukuo and Nura questions. It’s not like she was a bad character anyway, I just disliked her because she was nothing more than a plot device that Rikuo needed to save. This episode had her again captured by a youkai, but she did step out of that role and became more than that. I especially liked how, since this episode was told from her perspective, it became a strange little horror episode, especially when Nura dragged her to that Youkai restaurant. The end of this episode also introduced the new upcoming villains, and it’s here where this series is really going to have to deliver, especially as next month it’ll get some serious competition when Letter Bee starts airing again. While Letter Bee has way more flaws than Nurarihyon no Mago, it does have a better setting, atmosphere and soundtrack, plus at this point it also looks like its overarching story is a lot more interesting than Nurarihyon’s. It’ll have to put in some effort to not get overshadowed. Rating: * (Good)

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Nurarihyon no Mago – 10

Dark Horse takes two off hiatus, plus: Deb’s reading list!

admin — Tue, 07 Sep 2010 11:31:46 +0000

Deb Aoki polls her readers to compile a list of 50 manga every library should own, and real-life librarian Robin Brenner explains why the selections are shelf-worthy. John Thomas went to the Dark Horse panel at Kumoricon and got a scoop: Both Eden: It’s an Endless World and MPD-Psycho are coming off hiatus. Gottsu-Iiyan presents part four of his translation of a conversation between Takehiko Inoue and Eiichiro Oda at The Eastern Edge. Both One Piece and Naruto were inspired by Dragon Ball, Lori Henderson points out, and she examines why One Piece is burning up the charts in Japan while Naruto isn’t. The Comics Village team looks at the best options from the past week’s new releases. Sean Gaffney counts down his top ten favorite moments in Negima. Johanna Draper Carlson looks at the most promising manga due out in November. Caddy C. posts another interesting essay at A Feminist Otaku, this one about class issues in Skip Beat! Young Jump magazine is running a two-part history of the Ig Nobel prizes. Check out these sample pages (warning: cleavage!) which are in Japanese but kind of fun nonetheless (theres an explanation in the text). (Via Neatorama. ) Reviews Kate Dacey on The Art of Osamu Tezuka and Korea as Viewed by 12 Creators (The Manga Critic) Michelle Smith on vols. 7 and 8 of Banana Fish (Soliloquy in Blue) Billy Aguiar on vol. 1 of Children of the Sea (Prospero’s Manga) Dave Ferraro on vol. 1 of Dengeki Daisy (Comics-and-More) Bill Sherman on vol. 1 of Happy Boys (Blogcritics) Katherine Farmar on vol. 1 of Ichigenme… The First Class Is Civil Law (Comics Village) Cynthia on vol. 12 of Junjo Romantica (Boys Next Door) AstroNerdBoy on vol. 9 of Kitchen Princess (AstroNerdBoy’s Anime and Manga Blog) Cynthia on vol. 4 of ZE (Boys Next Door)

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Dark Horse takes two off hiatus, plus: Deb’s reading list!

Seikimatsu Occult Gakuin – 10

admin — Mon, 06 Sep 2010 21:11:56 +0000

Well, that settles it: the end of this episode really hinted that in the next episode, the finale is finally beginning. With that, we should get away from the random storylines and back to the main storyline, which is bound to be a lot more action-packed. The big question is obviously going to be: did this series take up too much time, trying to develop Maya? The thing with the past two episodes was that the direction was nowhere as interesting as the rest of the series, which can really hurt with a 13-episode series. I mean, the first half of this series was full of wit. The absence of this wit throughout most o this episode was rather unnerving. There were some parts I liked, especially the part in which Fumiaki tries to talk to Maya (seriously, more anime characters should do that), plus the development of Maya was also quite nice, but right now this series is in the danger of spending so much time on development that it sacrifices too much of its entertainment, story, Anime no Chikara tension and atmosphere. Having seen Sora no Oto, this is something that worries me, though thank god it’s not as extreme here. At this point, Sora no Oto had novels full of questions that it had yet to answer, and that really showed in its final episode in which it tried to do way too much at once. Senkou no Night Raid in contrast did have a great build-up with its finale, and that’s because it abandoned its build-up phase very early after episode seven. Occult Academy looks to be somewhere in the middle. Three episodes will be plenty of time to resolve all of the questions it has left hanging, but can it deliver? With its excellent script and direction it has built up expectations for its ending> I really want to see something more than a simple ending that just attempts to answer those questions. I want to see something that rocks. Ultimately, the ghost girl felt shallow to me. This series really has the opportunity to toy with new ideas, and here it comes with the ghost of a dead girl who was neglected and can go to pass on after hugging her father. I can understand that the creators wanted Maya to relate to her, but it’s all “been there, done that”, with no need to spend two whole episodes on it. A skilled writer could have put the past two episodes into just one episode and make them work just as well. Rating: * (Good)

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Seikimatsu Occult Gakuin – 10

Kids’ manga, creator profiles, and the week in review

admin — Mon, 06 Sep 2010 18:20:49 +0000

The Manga Moveable Feast continued over the long weekend with Ed Sizemore’s look at Yotsuba&! and Aria at Manga Worth Reading. Jason Yadao examines the question of what, exactly, constitutes kids’ manga at Otaku Ohana. David Welsh writes about Yotsuba!& and Ultra Maniac, a manga he thinks Yotsuba would enjoy. Matt Blind comments on Yotsuba!& and other comics that aren’t only for kids, such as Calvin and Hobbes. And at host site Good Comics for Kids, the bloggers discuss Graphic Novel Reporter’s core list of manga for kids. Lori Henderson looks back at the past week’s manga news at Manga Xanadu. Melinda Beasi looks forward to September’s manhwa releases in her latest Manhwa Monday post at Manhwa Bookshelf. And at Okazu, Erica Friedman updates us with another edition of Yuri Network News. Helen McCarthy has an interesting article about early manga-ka Ippei Okamoto. At Masters of Manga, Marc Bernabe has a just-the-facts-ma’am profile of manga-ka Hideki Ohwada, the creator of The Legend of Koizumi. Manga editor Daniella Orihuela-Gruber takes a busman’s holiday and reads some older manga, wincing as she notices the errors. (As an editor myself, I sympathize.) Also, best definition of censorship ever: (and by censorship, I mean someone has a pair of pants on that they didn’t have before) Hey, it happened to Michelangelo! ANN launches a weeklong tribute to the late anime director Satoshi Kon with a look at his work as a manga creator. Here’s some free online manga, and it’s legal: The Japanese web provider NEC Biglobe has launched Manga Boshi, a free online manga magazine featuring new works by young creators in Japanese and English—with French and Italian versions to follow soon. Donten Prism Solar Car News from Japan: Some new projects are in the works: Yasuo Ohtagaki ( Moonlight Mile ) and Yuusuke Murata ( Eyeshield 21 ) are collaborating on a new series, Donten Prism Solar Car, for Jump Square. Hit the link for more Jump Square series news. Banri Hidaka ( V.B. Rose ) is also launching a new series, Tenshi 1/2 Hōteishiki (Angel 1/2 Equation), in Hana to Yume. Again, check the link for more sudsy shoujo news. And Alice in the Country of Hearts and pPoi! are both coming to an end. At Okazu, Erica Friedman looks at some yuri-ish stories in the shoujo/josei magazine The Margaret. Reviews: At A Feminist Otaku, Caddy C. explains why she was disappointed by Blood +: Blood+ has some interesting elements, and I wanted to like the idea of a schoolgirl fighting vampires with a sword. That sounds awesome, right? How could you go wrong? Unfortunately, Blood+ has potential, but just squanders it by introducing needless fanservice, themes that go nowhere, and having its heroine be so helpless and dependent on others that she ceases to be badass in any way. Other reviews of note: Andrew on vol. 2 of Dorohedoro (Kuriousity) Daniel BT on A Drunken Dream and Other Stories (Sunday Comics Debt) Kristin on La Esperanca (Comic Attack) Sean Gaffney on vol. 4 of Happy Cafe (A Case Suitable for Treatment) James Fleenor on vol. 1 of Hyde & Closer (Anime Sentinel) Christopher Butcher on vol. 1 of Kingyo Used Books (About.com) Sesho on vol. 12 of The Prince of Tennis (Sesho’s Anime and Manga Blog) Zack Davisson on vol. 4 of Ooku: The Inner Chamber (Japan Reviewed) Leroy Douresseaux on vol. 3 of Tegami Bachi: Letter Bee (The Comic Book Bin) Michelle Smith on When the Heavens Smile (Soliloquy in Blue)

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Kids’ manga, creator profiles, and the week in review

OVA Impressions: Tamayura

admin — Mon, 06 Sep 2010 15:19:18 +0000

To be honest, Tamayura turned out to be a bit disappointing. First of all because it’s just fifteen minutes long, and second of all because it’s not really like Aria, but more like K-On with photographing instead of music. So yeah, if you’re interested in K-On but find it too long then this OVA might be something for you. The OVA tells the story about a bunch of girls who are living in a small city. Due to the short length, the lead character is pretty much the only one who isn’t a stereotype and gets some attention. She’s a bit annoying with her antics, but she is decently portrayed when the focus turns to her photography hobby. The problem is that this show uses a few too many unnecessary cliches. The lead character has a dead father, without any point to it, she is of the klutzy type that seems to be really popular nowadays for some reason and this is another one of those series that reduces cats to weird moe blobs. I have no idea why anime really wants to do that, seriously? Real cats are much more awesome than that. Oh, and there is also one particular character who has a specific character trait that has the potential to evolve into a horrible, horrible moe cliche on its own. At this point she is completely original, but I cringe at the thought of what would happen when moe series in the future take over the idea and include a character whose only method of communication IS FREAKING WHISTLING! Overall… this OVA wasn’t really worth it. Its premise is too run of the mill, and it had too little to make up for its flaws. The voice actresses seem to be trying too hard most of the time, which doesn’t really help to remove them from their own stereotypes. I hate to say this, but this is one of the worst things I’ve seen from Sato Junichi. OVA Episode Rating: 6,75/10

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OVA Impressions: Tamayura

High School of the Dead – 10

admin — Mon, 06 Sep 2010 14:08:55 +0000

That’s… interesting. Three episodes before the end, this series suddenly decides to abandon its brainless action and fanservice formula for the duration of the episode in order to get some depth on the characters, and in that department this probably was the best episode yet, despite being not the most exciting episodes. It’s definitely going to be interesting if this series would decide to go into a completely different direction, if it wasn’t for that ridiculously over the top cliff-hanger at the end of this episode that showed that this was just a single episode mood-swing. I have watched hardly any zombie flicks, so I don’t know how often they deal with topics like in this episode, but I liked it. The most interesting part here is that the main cast here was in the wrong: now that they have become part of this larger group of people who are trying to survive, they don’t fit in, they refuse to give up the valuable weapons they acquired, they don’t help others and instead of keeping calm they start fighting with each other. Still, this episode worked. I like how the characters in this series have the right combination between flaws and positive character traits. But yeah… that nazi teacher will be back in the next episodes. Unlike the lead cast, he is a character whose flaws are ridiculously unbalanced within his character, up to the point where most of his airtime was just a string of annoyance, and the same goes for the students that he turned into his slaves. If anyone is able to ruin the finale of this series, it’s these guys. Rating: ** (Excellent)

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High School of the Dead – 10

Sengoku Basara – 21

admin — Sun, 05 Sep 2010 21:24:10 +0000

Boy, Production IG, you sure are planning to make a lot depend on that ending of yours, with yet another episode without much fighting. This episode again continued to build up, it continued to set the stakes higher (Toshiie Maeda now also turns out to have regrouped and will be part of the final battle as well). Most of this episode was focused on tactical plans, rather than actual fighting (which had little tactical purpose). And that with three episodes left. One criticism to all this build up is that the creators could have told us more about the different characters, like give them more background, show them as they were younger, that kind of stuff. The characters all have their issues here, but I feel like the creators could have made more use of that if they were going to spend a lot of time building up anyway. Still, I admit that the creators did well in fleshing out their characters. While not the best, this show did put in some effort to show different sides of them, another one of the points at which I feel this series is superior to the first season, even though the first season had much more action. Rating: * (Good)

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Sengoku Basara – 21

Giant Killing – 23

admin — Sun, 05 Sep 2010 20:09:57 +0000

Aargh! Stupid cliff-hangers! I mean… wow. The way this show builds up tension is just amazing. I mean, I can’t stress enough how nerve-wrecking this episode was, and it was just meant as a build-up! It was pretty much all about Natsuki, a character who had just been introduced, less than ten episodes ago. I really did not expect him to steal the show this way. At this point, I’ve seen quite a few sports series already, and it really is an excellent genre: I hardly ever watched one that didn’t work. I used to be very biased against the series, but when I actually got to try out one of them, I quickly realized how completely stupid my biases were as I discovered a number of amazing sports series. And yet, despite such a high standard (and with “Shion no Ou” not counted as “sport”), at this point I’m willing to label Giant Killing as the best sports series I have ever seen. It rocks at everything: the characters, the tension, the chemistry, the depth, the entertainment. The animation is the only part at which it isn’t amongst my favourites this season, but in exchange it does have excellent character-designs with a unique graphics style, so even there it could be forgiven. I also loved how this episode took something so obvious as “the ball belongs to the team, and not to you”, and went much further in this. Alone it would indeed have been a bit of a cheesy saying, but it becomes actually pretty interesting when related to Natsuki: I really put my money on how he was once one of those guys who took these crazy egotistical risks while understanding that at the same time the ball belonged to the team, but right now this 8-month leave changed him significantly. He’s no longer able to take the crazy risks due to his fear of getting injured again and having to spend 8 months out yet again (something I actually can relate to a bit). It’s a bloody shame that the DVD sales are terrible, though, but this had it coming, unfortunately. In Japan, football just isn’t as popular as baseball, and it has very little to do with traditional Japanese culture. Still, I really believe that this show has a market internationally, especially in the countries in which football is really big. It’s a series that will be near-impossible to dub, but I feel that this is one of those series made with an international audience in mind, rather than just a Japanese one. Rating: *** (Awesome)

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Giant Killing – 23

Uragiri wa Boku no Namae wo Shitteiru – 22

admin — Sun, 05 Sep 2010 19:16:39 +0000

For a moment, I thought that the creators here were building up to one of those “final final bad guys”-twists, in which the guy who had been built up as the final bad guy throughout the series actually turns out to be someone completely different, with the final bad guys someone either his subordinate or employer, hidden somewhere in the shadows throughout most of the series (which is a nice idea of course, if it weren’t for the fact that those new bad guys often have nowhere near the depth of the original bad guys). I’m glad I was wrong with that. So yeah, Reiga remembers his time as Kanata. At first I found this rather cheesy, but after second thought this makes for a pretty interesting plot twist, because he actually consciously decided to live as Reiga, rather than Kanata, rather than this being a matter of mere brainwashing. This makes me even more interested in whatever the hell it was that Reiga hates so badly. So here’s the thing: there are two episodes left, and we end this episode with Yuki in an actual position to talk to Reiga. Sure, he’s kidnapped and all, but I really like what the creators are doing here: on one side they’re building up to an interesting set-up for a final battle, in which the characters, especially Luka and Takashiro, promise to go all out. On top of that, a major theme of these final two episodes will also be an attempt of Yuki to get through to Reiga, while Reiga needs to explain whatever the hell he’s been trying to do, along with try and successfully carry out this plan. If well balanced, it will make for an excellent ending. The biggest roadblock will be Reiga himself: the way he develops will be crucial whether the ending will be great or just dull. What the creators need to avoid at all costs is another one of those cases of “talking the monster to death”. I want to see some genuine tension between him and Yuki, without having him magically changes sides because of some cheesy speech that Yuki holds at the end. Oh, and about this episode: I’m glad that the creators didn’t waste an entire episode as a calm before the storm here, but instead kept it to about half an episode, while immediately putting more pressure on the cast. It shows that those general classes aren’t just sitting on their chair waiting for nothing, but actually are willing to act on their own beliefs and agendas. Not because they’re simply whimsical like a cliched anime protagonist, but because they don’t trust Reiga. Rating: ** (Excellent)

Heartcatch Precure – 30

admin — Sun, 05 Sep 2010 14:49:49 +0000

This episode reminded me of a mistake a lot of the bad mahou shoujo have made: the mascots. A lot of creators seem to believe that as long as you have them act brightly enough all the time, they’ll end up enjoyable. Instead of portraying them as cheerful characters, they take this way over the top by making this cheerfulness their only character trait. When the series also starts putting these mascots into central roles, you’ve got your recipe for disaster. I think the best example of this is Lilpri, which started airing during the past spring season: what could have been a fun and over the top idol series got completely out of hand when the creators suddenly found it a good idea to make these really badly characterized mascots the lead characters. Chypre and Coffret know exactly what they are: support characters. They never get into the spotlights, they do their jobs by alerting Tsubomi and Erika as fast as possible about any desatorians, and while both are cheerful, they also know how to… you know, act normally. Then Potpourri came, and seemed to be doing the complete opposite, and she actually got a few episode parts in which she was the central character. Granted, because she was only born recently it makes sense to portray her as a little kid compared to the more “professional” Chypre and Coffret, but something in me didn’t really get used to her. So when this episode again promised to be another arc about her, I had a bit of doubts. But god dammit, what a sweet episode it turned out to be. I knew from the moment that Potpourri and the little girl stopped playing that my fears were wrong, but even then I was surprised at how GOOD and sincere this episode was. Cure Moonlight’s return alone was already awesome enough, but I love how well Potpourri and that little girl she met acted and made up. I mean, this show is actually setting out to be even better with its second half than its first half here. There was a far bigger contrast between the light and dark parts, but I like how at the same time the creators aren’t forgetting to keep this a bright and fun series. The creators had a lot of fun with the facial expressions in the bright parts here, not to mention how well the fight was animated (seriously, show: screw the magical beams and instead keep with the martial arts: those really show off how good the animation here is). On top of that, the creators also made excellent uses of Cure Moonlight here, by having her remind her how close Itsuki would have been to losing Potpourri. I also wonder when we’re going to see the mysterious grandfather again. He hasn’t appeared in ages, but that just shows that he hasn’t been needed, and how the cast has grown. Rating: *** (Awesome)

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Heartcatch Precure – 30

Yotsuba and… the Manga Moveable Feast

admin — Fri, 03 Sep 2010 22:09:06 +0000

The Manga Moveable Feast continues, hosted by Good Comics for Kids and joined by quality comics blogs everywhere. At the host blog, all of us go at it in a roundtable on reviewing kids’ manga, and Robin Brenner discusses who Yotsuba&! appeals to. Melinda Beasi and Michelle Smith discuss several manga for kids, including Yotsuba&!, in their latest Off the Shelf column at Manga Bookshelf. Erica Friedman takes Yotsuba&! in context and decides it has something for everyone, not just kids, at Okazu. Alex Leavitt tackles the same question at Department of Alchemy. At Comics Village, Lori Henderson rounds up all the children’s manga her team has reviewed in the past few years. All this month’s MMF posts are archived here. Also at Good Comics for Kids, Lori Henderson has the list of this week’s new all-ages comics and manga. Sean Gaffney looks ahead to next week’s new manga. David Welsh reaches the letter G in his seinen alphabet, and his license request for the week is Gokusen. Deb Aoki goes all meta on us with a look at 15 manga about making manga. Ken Akamatsu discusses his schedule and talks a little bit about how he makes the magic in this short video (subtitled) at Masters of Manga. At Manga Therapy, Tony Yao looks at nihilism in Bleach, as embodied by the character Ulquiorra Cifer. Matt Blind compiles his list of the top 500 manga (online sales) for the past week, and then he takes a look at how Dark Horse is doing. Alt-manga artist Akino Kondoh will appear at MangaNEXT in New Jersey next month, together with M. Alice LeGrow ( Bizenghast ), Nina Paley ( Sita Sings the Blues ), and Lea Hernandez ( Texas Steampunk ). Kondoh’s work appeared in the first volume of Top Shelf’s AX anthology. Reviews: EvilOmar launches the long weekend with some short manga reviews at About Heroes. Billy Aguiar on vols. 1-3 of Alice in the Country of Hearts (Prospero’s Manga) Michelle Smith on vol. 1 of Bakuman (Comics Should Be Good) Lori Henderson on vols. 1 and 2 of Chi’s Sweet Home (Manga Xanadu) Lori Henderson on vols. 1 and 2 of Dinosaur King (Comics Village) David Welsh on A Drunken Dream and Other Stories (The Manga Curmudgeon) Andrew Cunningham on Halcyon Lunch (Eastern Standard) Julie Opipari on vol. 5 of Honey Hunt (Manga Maniac Cafe) Tangognat on vol. 1 of House of Five Leaves (Tangognat) Andre on vol. 9 of Magic Touch (Kuriousity) Andrew Cunningham on Mysterious Girlfriend X 6 (Eastern Standard) Connie on Tenken (Slightly Biased Manga) Ken Haley on vol. 2 of Vampire Hunter D (Sequential Ink)